Monday, June 11, 2012

HanCinema Daily News วันที่ 10-06-2012

HanCinema's Korean Box Office Review
(2012.06.08 ~ 2012.06.10)
This past week saw the release of two big films in Korea. First was the
much-anticipated "Prometheus" from director Ridley Scott, followed by
Kim Dae-seung's erotic historical drama "The Concubine". The local
flavour came out tops, achieving almost double the admissions count of
the Ridely's prequel to the iconic "Alien" films. "

Engraved with the names of its craftsmen, the name of the Buddhist
temple that first housed it, and "Heung-ryeo-bu" , the old name for
Ulsan during the early years of the Goryeo Dynasty, this dark green
Buddhist temple bell was made in 1019. The bell, known as the Im-Kang-Sa
bell, takes its name after the temple it first resided in. The
original weight of the bell was 213 kilograms, but today j

Subway trains with huge air conditioning loads are threatening to
trigger power outages in Korea. The thermometer of a Line 4 subway train
bound for Danggogae indicates 21 degrees Celsius (top) at 2 p.m.
Friday, way lower than 28.2 degrees at the Sadang station platform at
the same time. Lack of consistency is prevalent in running air
conditioning facilities because the lone regulation Seoul Met

Ted Smith blows on his whistle and cheers on the Nexen Heroes during a
game against the SK Wyverns last Tuesday at Mokdong Baseball Stadium in
Seoul.Provided by the Nexen Heroes
"Mom, it's Ted-Jjang! Ted-Jjang!" a young Nexen Heroes baseball fan
cried out, pointing at Ted Smith, a Canadian leading the section in
cheers. Smith smiled and corrected - it's not Ted-Jjang, it's Ted-Jjing.
When asked

A shop assistant shows a customer T-shirts made of materials that
breathe and absorb moisture to beat the heat at a branch of Hyundai
Department Store in Seoul on Thursday. The attire is being promoted as
summer office wear. Provided by the company
Electric fans and other energy-saving devices are seeing robust sales as
the government stands poised to raise the electricity rate for
businesses a

Jeonse, or lump-sum deposits, for two-year housing rental contracts
usually skyrocket when real estate prices drop. As such, it was little
surprise that they shot up 13.4 percent last year when apartment prices
in Seoul fell 0.4 percent. However, the situation has changed in recent
months, as deposits have dwindled in the Seoul metropolitan area in
tandem with apartment prices.According to Joong

A 64-year-old man surnamed Noh was caught barehanded trying to
pickpocket a smartphone off a man at Anguk Station in Jongro District,
central Seoul, last Sunday. Police spotted the crime on a live CCTV feed
from the area and swooped in. The cameras captured Noh being cuffed and
led away.It was a pathetic end to a storied career. Back in his heyday
in the 1980s, Noh was part of an organized group

A hand-drawn map of Seoul marked with architect and travel writer O
Young-wook's favorite places in the city. / Courtesy of Paperstory
By Kwon Mee-yoo Everyone longs to travel and appreciate foreign cities
with all their senses open, but such inspiration dulls in one's home
city. Architect and travel writer O Young-wook's "However, I Like Seoul"
(Paperstory, 16,500 won) is a confession of his

Rep. Jasmine Lee of the ruling Saenuri Party
1st ethnic lawmaker vows to work for correct understanding on
multiculturalism Rep. Jasmine Lee of the ruling Saenuri Party said in
an interview with The Korea Times Friday that she joined politics with
the hopes of promoting multiculturalism and creating a better
environment for children with a multicultural background. "I joined a
program aime

2012, Korea's National Year of Reading The Year of Reading is officially
underway. In the months since this March when the Ministry of Culture,
Sports and Tourism designated 2012 as the National Year of Reading,
various events and programs designed to encourage regular reading have
taken place across the country.On May 24, the first of the Book Dream
concerts scheduled to take place throughout t

French-Speaking
Korean Adoptee's Open Letter
From Adoptee to Minister - Fleur Pellerin is the French minister of
small- and medium-sized enterprises and the digital economy. The
38-year-old technocrat was adopted when she was only six months old to
the French family. South Korea earned a shameful nickname as the "top
exporter of orphans", as the number of Korean adoptees overseas has
amounted t

Ven. Jaseung, president of the Jogye Order, clasps his hands after
announcing a series of reform measures for the largest Buddhist sect, in
Gyeonji-dong, Seoul, Thursday. The reform initiatives follow a recent
scandal over monks gambling. / Korea Times
By Kwon Mee-yoo The Jogye Order will hand over the business of running
temples to independent companies instead of entrusting it to monks, and

"Ssam" or vegetable wraps provide ample vitamins and minerals that
stimulate our metabolism. / Courtesy of CJ Freshway
"Ssam" or vegetable wraps provide ample vitamins and minerals that
stimulate our metabolism. One can prepare wraps with raw or steamed
vegetables. Wraps made with cooked greens could be good for a cancer
patient who may have a sore mouth. Using seasonal vegetables such as l

By Kim Rahn The late novelist Park Kyung-ni's house and one of the
former spy agency's buildings on Mt. Nam will be preserved as cultural
heritage sites, according to Seoul City. The city government said
Thursday it will select and preserve facilities and sites related to the
city's history, culture and lifestyle between 1900 and 2000 as cultural
heritages in contemporary periods. "Currently,

Korea's universities are receiving new attention of late, with the
recent publication of university assessments placing them among the
top-ranking schools in the world. This year's Quacquarelli Symonds (QS)
Asian University Rankings, published in partnership with the Chosun
Ilbo, placed three Korean universities in the top ten list of higher
education institutions in the Asian region.
POSTECH,

Do you enjoy looking at things from a different perspective? If you do,
and you're in London, how about hopping down to Saatchi Gallery for the
upcoming Korean Eye 2012 exhibition?
"Korean Eye" is a cultural project sponsored by Standard Chartered Bank,
promoting contemporary Korean artists and their works. Its next
destination is London, just in time for the summer Olympics.
If you are into a

Single women in Seoul smoke three times more than the average, and seven
out of 10 drink alcohol regularly. Since single women tend to pay less
attention to their health, three out of 10 of them assessed their health
as "bad" and 40.6 percent they do little to take care of their health
even though they are worried about it.The figures come from a survey
released Monday by the Seoul Metropolitan

Hyundai Department Store Group will enter the domestic premium outlet
sector. It is expected to ignite fierce competition with market leaders
Shinsegae Chelsea and Lotte Department Store.
Hyundai said Wednesday that it bought an outlet lot at Gimpo Terminal in
Gyeonggi Province Tuesday to open its premium outlet in 2014. The group
had announced in April its plan to open a luxury outlet in the S

The
number of foreign women immigrating to Korea for marriage is likely to
decrease, serving as a setback to the nation`s developing multicultural
society.
According to a report by the Korea Institute for Health and Social
Affairs, a considerable number of men living in rural farming areas who
are past the traditional marrying age in Korea have married foreign
women, and the number of young marri

Photo credit: LiveRex
The Chosun Ilbo recently confirmed that 50 percent of all mobile
subscribers in Korea are using smartphone.
Living here, I can also attest to how popular smartphones are here. All
of my friends, without exception, currently use smartphones. Even my
56-year-old aunt, who doesn't know how to turn on a computer, uses a
smartphone (go figure).
As you can imagine, smartphones

Written
by Jon Dunbar in Arts
When it comes to the international music festival circuit, Korea is at a
geographical disadvantage, disconnected from the mainland and wedged
between two much larger countries with larger music scenes. But every
year, more and more international bands visit Korea and more and more
people come out to the increasingly numerous music festivals of the
country.
Rainbow

OH HEIN-KUHN: MIDDLEMEN
Sungkok Art Museum, Jongno DistrictTo June 17: Oh Hein-kuhn, a
photographer well known for his "portraits of anxiety" taken of women,
has finally added men to his portfolio. His solo show titled "Middlemen"
features young male soldiers. The exhibition consists of 37 large
photographs of everyday soldiers in the Korean Army, Navy and Air Force.
Though he received support

Kang Chol-hwan, who defected from North Korea in 1992, now lives in
South Korea and works as a journalist and human rights activist. / Korea
Times
By Andrei Lankov The North Korean resistance movement does not have
many recognizable faces. This is understandable: a really brutal
dictatorship would not allow any dissenter to stay alive. The fact that
dissent was possible in Brezhnev's Russia an

In commemoration of Memorial Day, the National Archives of Korea in
Seoul released letters written by South Korean soldiers fighting in the
Korean War in the 1950s and the Vietnam War in the 1970s.
Reflecting a longing for their families, the letters were written by
young soldiers who fought for their country. Their families visited the
website of Seoul National Cemetery to read their letters a

Red Bean Ice Flakes from Paris Croissant Provided by the company
It's nearly summer again, and that means it's time for those special
hot-weather treats: cold draft beer and fried chicken or naengmyeon,
cold buckwheat noodles served in a bowl of floating ice. One of the most
Korean treats of the season is patbingsu, an icy cold dish that makes
its way onto cafe menus as the temperature rises. M

Lee Charm, CEO of the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO), speaks during a
recent interview with The Korea Times at his office in central Seoul. /
Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
By Yun Suh-young According to a Korean saying, in 10 years even rivers
and mountains change. The nation's tourism industry has changed greatly
in just three years. Ever since Lee Charm, a German-born naturalized
Ko

Lee Charm, president of the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO)
By Yun Suh-young Korea Tourism Organization (KTO)'s chief Lee Charm
sees medical tourism as the next big thing for the nation's tourism
industry. "The prospect for medical tourism is fantastic. The area of
medical service has unlimited growth potential". Lee said in a recent
interview with The Korea Times. "Korea's medical servic

Letter Na Sin-geol wrote to his wife as he went to his job in Hamgyeong
(early 16th century).
In faraway posts on fierce battlefields fighting off the Japanese, the
husbands of the Joseon era (1392-1910) reached out for a brush and wrote
to their wives.They had a lot to ask about.Are the servants acting
obedient and staying away from trouble? How was the child's first
birthday party and what di

The mobile messenger service KakaoTalk launched a beta version of its
free phone call service VoiceTalk for local users yesterday, after
taking flak for only launching the service overseas. "As many users are
enthusiastic about this particular service, we've decided that we'll
start by testing the service. But we are still not sure when the
official launch of the full service in Korea is going t

Workers from the Gangnam District Office issue a ticket to a man caught
lighting up in the non-smoking area in Gangnam, Seoul, on Friday. As the
Seoul Metropolitan Government began enforcing its smoking ban in the
Gangnam District, violators caught smoking and the staff tasked with
regulating them clashed in the southern area of Seoul. By Oh Jong-taek
About 3 p.m. on Friday on Gangnam Boulevard

By
Kim Rahn About one out of eight households in Seoul is comprised of
one woman, and most of them are office workers who graduated from
colleges, according to a Seoul City report. The city government said
Monday that Seoul has a high ratio of households of singlewomen living
alone, taking up 12.6 percent of the capital's total households. The
report was announced while the city government plan

Park Yu-jun, in red, and his family show off their weekend family farm
in Sejong City on May 26. By Kim Sung-tae
SEJONG CITY - On a Saturday afternoon, Park Yu-jun, a 37-year-old public
servant, and his family walked out of their apartment carrying farming
tools and headed to their weekend farm. It took just 10 minutes for the
family to walk to the 12 square-meter (129 square feet) vegetable ga

Photo Credit: Taste Korean Temple Food website
As I wrote about in this blog post, last Monday was Buddha's Birthday in
Korea. While I'm not Buddhist, this holiday got me thinking about some
of the foods and traditions associated with the religion.
To commemorate Buddha's Birthday, many believers go to the temple and
eat food that doesn't contain meat or strong-smelling ingredients like
garlic